Obscurity
by Karussell
Summary: He was a sobbing mess on the forest ground, fingers tangled in his wild black hair, his sister leaning against a tree only a feet or two away, naked like him, devasted like him, but she was silent. :AU, Oneshots:
1. March 18th

**March 18, 2006**

He was a sobbing mess on the forest ground, fingers tangled in his wild black hair, his sister leaning against a tree only a feet or two away, naked like him, devasted like him, but she was silent.

He could barely hear her breathing.

"Well", somebody said, maybe Paul, maybe not, "Sue can have 'em back now. And just in time for the funeral, too."

The boy pressed his face into the dirt to stifle a desperate wail.

A kick.

A groan.

"Shut up, Paul, will ya?"

"Yeah, you're not helping anyone, idiot."

"Seth, buddy, come on, stand up."

A blanket was thrown over his trembling body and strong hands gripped his shoulder, pulled him up into a sitting position.

"It's three in the morning and if we get going now, we'll be at the house in about half in hour and you and Leah can get a few hours of sleep before ... before the-"

"Funeral."

"Will you ... just leave, Lahote?"

"Fine."

Heavy steps broke through the undergrowth, getting away from them fast.

A sigh.

Then: "Get Seth on his feet, Jared, okay? I'll take care of Leah."

"Sure."

Different hands grabbed him, slim, long fingers, and dragged him to his feet when he didn't react whatsoever to gentle tugs and soft nudges.

"Come on, champ. Time to get you home, yeah? Your Mom's gonna be there and you'll get to sleep in your own bed again. That sounds nice, right? Way better than the cold, dirty forest. No stones poking you, no leaves in your hair."

"I want my Dad."

"Seth ..."

"I want my Dad, I want my Dad, please, Jarr, I just want my Dad."

And tears burned his cheeks, leaving red paths.


	2. July 3rd

**July 3, 2003**

"Okay."

Sam grinned.

"Lookin' good, man. You ready?"

Henry looked down, shaking his head.

"I'm scared."

And wrapped his arms around himself.

"I know you are. But it's a good kinda scared, right? Gets you all ... tingly and excited."

"No. Just scared."

"Look, ... we're in Seattle. Nobody here knows you, nobody's gonna recognize you, nobody's gonna do or say anything. It's just you and me, like when we're in my room and my Mom's out and I'm me and you're you. You're Henry. I know that and you know that, too. You're not ready to tell the rest of the world, yet, and that's totally okay, I get it, I can't do that, yet, either, but don't you wanna try how it feels to be Henry without having to explain yourself first? Even if it's just for a few hours?"

"I'm alway Henry."

"Well, yes, I know. I just mean-"

He struggled to find the right words.

"I know what you mean. It's fine."

"We could hold hands, if that'd make you feel better."

"I'm not gay, Sam."

Henry looked up, smiling a little.

"Well, I am, and I happen to like holding hands. Especially yours."

"You do that all the time at home."

He still grabbed the hand Sam offered him.

"You'll have my back if anything goes wrong, right?"

"Nothing's gonna go wrong, but yes, I will. I always do."


	3. April 19th

**April 19, 2006**

Quil ran a shaking hand through his already tousled hair, pacing the room while the tug got stronger and stronger by the second.

"I can feel her coming nearer."

Embry, who was sat on his friend's bed, looked up, sharing a quick glance with Jacob, who leaned against the wall, frowning, arms crossed over his chest.

"You've gotta lock me up, guys. You hear me? You can't let me come near that little girl, please, you've gotta promise me."

His eyes were widened, eyebrows raised, hands balled into fist.

And he was trembling.

"Please."

"You're going crazy, Quil", Embry said and rubbed his eyes, sighing quietly. "We won't lock you up. I mean, ... even if we tried, you'll just ... I dunno, tear down the wall or something."

"Then stop me! Don't let me tear down walls! I ... I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get the opportunity to come near her and that fucking scares me! You're my best friends, please, I need your help, I ... I ... _need_ ... your help. Please, Embry, Jake. Please, just help me."

Jacob chewed nervously on his bottom lip.

"Look, Quil, maybe ... maybe you can ... learn ... how to control this."

"But I _lose_ all control, as soon as I'm near her!"

"Well, we're gonna restrain you, of course, as long you can't control your ... urges."

Quil shook his head.

"No. You see how Sam's around Emily or ... or Jared around Kim. But they're at least ... able to consent to a relationship. I'm already constantly thinking about her. It's painful to not be close to her, but it's even worse knowing who I become when I'm near her."

"Do you ..."

Embry swallowed, avoiding his friend's eyes.

"Do you wanna ... do it ... with ... Do you wanna have ... sex ... with Claire?"

"No. No, no, no, no", Quil wailed. "But ... but I don't know if that's gonna happen and the possibilty alone's enough to avoid coming near her. But ... she's constantly on my mind, I wanna ... protect her, I wanna ... I wanna guard her ... from the world."

"Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing", Jacob intervened. "Is it?"

"This morning alone I had to stop myself three times from going wolf and kidnapping her. It's worse when I've shifted. It's stronger. I hate this. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this."

"I don't understand how the imprint's supposed to strengthen the pack, the wolf, if that's what it's doing to you. I mean, ... I don't know about Sam or Jared, but ... this is fucking hell for you, man", Jacob said.

Embry scratched his cheek.

"I don't think it's about ... _our_ pack. It's about future packs. An imprint is supposed to be your perfect genetic match, right? The perfect person to ... procreate with."

"This is disgusting. We're talking about a two-year-old, Embry. Besides, that's only Sam's assumption, we don't actually know why we imprint."

"Yeah, but it's always been rare, right? Your great-grandfathers didn't imprint and neither did Sam's. Now we've already got three wolves imprinted, our numbers are higher than ever and we even got a girl. Something big's coming and, obviously, that means the spirits are not as picky with soulmates for us as they were, like, a hundred years ago. I don't understand why they want you to fuck a kid, though."

"Embry! Stop that."

Jacob gesticulated in Quil's direction.

Their friend cowered on the floor, nails digging into his skin.

"You're making it worse."

"Well, I'm only stating facts."

"I hate this", Quil whimpered.

Embry exhaled.

"I'm gonna stay here with him 'til Claire's gone again. You'll go over to Emily's and call when her parents drive back home with her, Jake?"

Jacob nodded.

"Okay."


	4. January 18th

**January 18, 2005**

One of the bloodsuckers had left Forks earlier today.

The ginger one.

Sam had watched him run off in a frenzy, by mere coincidince while patrolling the border, much to fast for human eyes to even register as more than a weird blur, but very much visible for a shape shifter.

He'd looked confused and angry, running his hands through his weird, messy hair, and Sam'd thought about following him, because an agitated leech probably wasn't a good thing, like, ever, but as soon as that thought had entered his mind, the vampire stopped running and said quietly: "I won't violate the treaty, Samuel. You don't have any reason to leave La Push."

Right.

He'd forgotten that this one was a mind reader on top of everything else.

_Where are you going?_

"Alaska. We shall see when - if - I'll be back."

And then, gone he was.

Sam wished he had someone to share this weirdness with, but things between him and Emily were as horrible as ever - not that he could blame her -, he'd lost his best friend when all of this bullshit had started and he doubted the council would care much about his feelings as long as nobody turned up sucked dry.

So, he had no friends to talk to, not even a fellow sufferer of this damn wolf curse, not that he'd wish that shit on anyone.

Maybe he'd run off to Alaska, too.


	5. July 13th

**July 13, 2005**

"I'm not happy", Kim said quietly, avoiding to look at her boyfriend.

He'd been her dream guy for so, so long, she had sribbled so many hearts around his name, she had been so happy when he'd finally asked her out.

"No. Me, neither."

His voice was raspy and low.

"Are you unhappy because I am or because you are?", she wanted to know.

Jared hesitated for a moment.

"I honestly don't know, Kim. I don't."

He shook his head, rubbing his face and sighing heavily.

"You know what the worst thing is?", he mumbled. "I really like you, I think. And I mean, ... me-me, not the wolf-me. You're sweet and funny and smart and without all the bullshit, maybe I would've sooner or later realized what a nice person you were. Or you would've worked up the courage to ask me out ... I would've said yes, I think."

"So ... what do we now?"

"I need ... to see you."

"I know."

"But ... I don't think we should continue seeing eachother."

She glanced up at him.

"Like ... maybe we could still sit together in school, sometimes. And you could still help me with math? But ... no dates ... no couple stuff. Nothing except for help with math homework ... If you're still up to that."

"Course I am ..."

"I hate this."

"I do, too."


End file.
